


Crowded Minds Make for Tired Kids

by a_little_hazy



Series: Dream is a Vessel [1]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Demonic Possession, Dream is in Prison, Gen, Isolation, Possession AU, Sam is very confused, Sam tires to figure out how all of the works, dream is a vessel for Dream XD and the Dreamon, general c!dream warnings, god decides its his turn with the body, implied manipulation of minors, implied mental spiraling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29065821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_little_hazy/pseuds/a_little_hazy
Summary: Sam takes his job very seriously.Dream is in prison. The server has been relatively peaceful now, with him gone. But when Dream starts behaving weirdly, many things are thrown into question.aka: Sam meets god, apparently
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Sam | Awesamdude
Series: Dream is a Vessel [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2136243
Comments: 23
Kudos: 443





	Crowded Minds Make for Tired Kids

**Author's Note:**

> heyheyhey remember this is just an AU and if you use this to justify canon!dream I will steal your bones <3  
> c!dream is a bitch and I hate him
> 
> also if you compare any of this to DID i will hunt you down  
> homie is literally just possessed

Sam takes his job  _ very  _ seriously. Even though he seems to be the  _ only  _ person to understand that there is  _ no  _ chance at escape in his prison, his pride, and joy, he is also the most aware of that possibility. Every day, he checks potential weak spots (there are none, but if you overthink late at night enough, you can come up with a few). He has ways to check in on Dream without him noticing. He has ways to talk to Dream without being in the cell.

That's what worries Sam the most. For the past few days, Sam doesn't think Dream has moved. At all. His eyes are blank as he stares at the wall, occasionally watching time tick by on his clock. Rarely, Dream would twitch violently and spend a little while talking to himself. At one point, Sam had thought that it was cruel to make Dream aware of the time that passed him by. He was in a cell with no chance of escape. Was it right to rub in how long he'd been traped? Sam had tried to remove the clock, but the desperation Dream felt to keep it there was... convincing, to say the least.

He looked like a shell, honestly. Prolonged isolation does unthinkable damage to the mind, and Sam worries that he is not enough. That he has never been enough.

Despite this, things were going relatively smoothly for the rest of the SMP. Things were beginning to calm down, and no fights had broken out. It was a relief, really. It's not like everything was just fixed, far from it, but... there was a newfound peace in the air.

One day, while Sam was viewing Dream, Dream had appeared a lot more... twitchy. At first, his head would snap to the side; then, his body would seize up before relaxing again. Concern grew in Sam's chest the longer this went on, and the more frequent it would get. A loud, gut-wrenching sound snapped Sam out of his thoughts before the cell audio cut out. Dream had suddenly gripped his head and fell forward. Sam could nearly hear the scream through the lava; no cell audio required.

He rushed to get into the cell. Sam didn't want him to  _ die _ !  _ A _ t the very least, he wanted to have Dream for his powers; at the most... he wasn't ready to let go of who used to be a person.

The screaming was more raw than Sam could have ever imagined. It pierced Sam's ears when he stumbled into the cell. His fingers began tingling, and he had to will himself to calm down before he self detonates. Dream was still gripping his head, but his body was convulsing violently on the ground.

" _ Stop it _ ," Dream spat out between screams, cruel and harsh and everything the server had grown to know him as. "I'm in control right now.  _ Go away _ ."

Then Dream screamed again, and Sam could only watch in horror as his body clamped up, trembling in pain, before going completely slack. Sam was nearly ready for a death message to send across the server. He looked so... still. Sam could hardly believe he was still alive, that he  _ hadn't _ just watched the Admin die before his eyes. But the message never came.

Instead, Dream's body twitched once before getting up. While he stood, he  _ transformed _ . Sam couldn't notice any distinct moment of change, but... The green he wore was somehow much darker, and Dream's mask had a different design, with a large "x" shaped crack in the center. He  _ towers  _ over Sam, but his head didn't even touch the ceiling, not even close to the obsidian. That's  _ impossible _ , the room was constructed only  _ just  _ tall enough to accommodate Sam's height, and now the ceiling seems to stretch far into the sky. Staring into the mask makes Sam feel nauseous, but he couldn't tear his eyes away.

The... creature, because Sam was  _ sure _ it wasn't Dream, simply stood there in silence. Its inhuman legs shifted, straightening its spine.  ** (CRACKING) ** Sam felt like he was in the presence of something few are graced with, felt like he should bow or  _ something. _ Instead of something to confirm Sam's suspicions, however, the creature simply tilted its masked face.

"Release me," it says.

"Wh-what?"

"I said release me."

Sam resisted the unexpected, sharp urge to open up the cell.

"Release me, or I'll do it myself." The creature's hand rises, a small transparent panel forming under inhumanly long fingers. With a jolt, Sam realized it was the  _ server code _ . No one had access to that, at least not conscious and certainly not out on one's person.

"Okay, okay, I'll let you out," Sam says quickly, all of his suspicions confirmed, and the creature lowers its hand.

"Do not worry. I will return him when I'm finished."

Confusion filled Sam as he opened up the cell, a procedure meant for emergencies only, and that only he knew about. "Wh-he? You mean Dream?"

"No," the creature says. "Dream hasn't been here in a very long time."

"That doesn't make any sense." Sam steps onto his platform, readying his keycards. "I just saw him. He's been here for  _ weeks _ . I've been monitoring him, talking to him, feeding him-"

"That's not  _ Dream. You _ only call him that," the creature says. Sam moves to open up sealed doorways and provide potions, but  _ somehow _ they've already passed through his security. The longer Sam stands next to this thing; the more dread grows in his chest.

"That is someone else. It is Dream's body, but Dream hasn't been here in a very long time."  _ It's repeating itself? _

The creature begins walking, and Sam is entirely convinced that it doesn't need him to take it through the prison.

"How-how long?" Sam asks.

"No one  _ here  _ has ever talked to Dream."

This doesn't make any sense. Here? What, on this server? Ever? Or just the people who inhabit it now? What about the past? A migraine is quickly setting into Sam's mind.

"Okay, so, if no one  _ here _ has talked to Dream, then who  _ have _ we been speaking to?"

"The demon."

_ Demon _ ?

"The demon?" Sam repeats dumbly. He feels like he's grasping at fraying strings. Soon the rope will snap, he's sure.

"Yes. I only emerge when needed. When the server requires assistance. The demon put up quite a fight this time, though."

Was that why Dream was screaming? What he meant when he said that he was the one in control? Who was the one making the pain? Sam isn't sure he wants to know the answer to that question.

Abruptly, Sam is aware that they're both outside, standing on the grass in front of the prison entrance. They hadn't gone through any portals, any doors. His mind felt like it was going to explode. He had to take a moment that the core on his chest was still functioning, just to be safe.

"Okay, so, what are you here for right now?" Sam asks. The creature only appears when the server needed help. What prompted it this time? Why hadn't he ever seen it before?

"Portals."

Portals? The only portals here are the Nether portals, and they were all function just fine. Sam would know if one of them went out of line, somebody would've told him. Before he can ask, though, the creature is gone. He hadn't even seen it move.

As Sam's headache ebbs away, he has time to think over what the creature (he was really going to have to ask for a name) had told him. Apparently, the Dream everyone had gotten to know wasn't  _ Dream _ at all. It was what, a demon? Sam remembers when Tubbo and Fundy had gone on a little adventure, making wild claims about  _ dreamons _ . He had always brushed it off, but now? Now he wasn't so sure. There might've been more truth to their claims than anyone could have expected.

"I can return him, now."

Sam jumps at the sound of the creature's voice behind him. He hadn't heard  _ anything _ . Could it teleport, like endermen? But endermen make sounds. Did this thing figure out how to move around silently? That would certainly explain things. Frazzled, Sam nods and steps back into the prison entrance.

The creature follows him through the Nether portal this time. Somehow, it fits into the small space without ducking, even though Sam still had to crane his neck to see the creature's face.

"I... I have questions." The creature doesn't acknowledge Sam, but it doesn't object either. "What's your name?"

The creature thinks for a long moment. Sam was now walking by its side through the Nether. That was absurd, the path to the prison didn't have any open space through the Nether Wastes, but Sam was beginning not to question it anymore.

"Dae," it says, finally.

"Okay... what's the demon's name?"

No response.

"Who... who was in Dream's mind first, you or the demon?"

"I was."

God, Sam was frustrated. It was so hard to get  _ any _ sort of information out of Dae, and his migraine was already coming back full force.

He tries to wrestle more information out of what he thinks is the server's deity, based on the irregular movement it was capable of and its access to the server code. Sam always felt like he had to keep his head down around it, but it was different from how he felt about Dream. Dream commanded out of sheer power and fear, but... Dae just had an aura about it. The way Dae warped reality to its will, it hurt Sam's head. It pressed against his eyes until he was forced to look away. It came back whenever he lifted his eyes from the ground.

Unfortunately, Dae appeared like it didn't want to talk to Sam anymore. The two of them were suddenly back in Dream's cell with no regard for their previous location. When Sam tries to think back to where they just were, his thoughts become blurry. He decides it was better to leave it and tries to take it in stride.

For a moment, Dae pauses, almost hesitant.

"I am going to leave now," it says, turning to face Sam. "Dream will be here. Be kind to him; he will be lost and confused. I leave the body weak and disoriented. He is not the person you put in here, but he will show up soon. Be kind until Dream is gone."

Sam nods, despite how his mind struggles to keep up with the situation. Dae returns the nod, almost solemnly, and then collapses onto the ground. It looked just like when Dae first arrived but played in reverse. The greens in Dream's outfit become bright again. The ceiling is back to the height it was constructed as, and the pressure in Sam's head is gone. Dae had left.

In front of Sam, the body shifts, once again dwarfed by his stature. Somehow, in some way, Dream looks... smaller. Slowly, Dream sits up, mask now gone and looking far too young. He glances up at Sam and the room around him, and he seems a little scared and very, very confused.  _ So this was the real Dream, apparently _ .

"Dream?" Sam asks, bending his legs under him. Even with his lower half laying on the floor, he dwarfs Dream, but he hopes it makes him less intimidating. 

Dream goes to speak, but something catches in his throat, and he's thrown into a coughing fit. Sam offers a bottle of water from around his belt, which Dream takes hesitantly and sips on until the cough is gone.

_ What does Sam say _ ? "Do you... how are you, Dream?"

Dream glances over Sam, pulling his knees up to his chest. "I'm... fine. Who-what is all of this?"

"It's... just a safety precaution," Sam says. "Don't worry. I'm Sam."

Dream nods. Sam... really doesn't know how to handle this. He was told to be kind until who he put in the prison comes back. He doesn't really understand, but he tries anyway. It starts with a few questions. Favorite colors, foods, then gradually moved into casual conversation. Dream seemed like a completely different person, which, according to Dae, he was. It was the most emotion Sam had seen on Dream's face since he was put in prison. Sam... didn't know how to cope with that.

"Dream, just a quick question," Sam starts. He could at least try to get a little information about whatever this is while he's here, "how old are you?"

Dream had been playing idly with the hem of his poncho--like he was unfamiliar with the item. It was so strange since Sam had never seen him without it. "I'm fifteen," he says, and Sam's heart freezes. "Why?"

Dream's face falls as he starts to realize something. "Oh, wait, no-"

Before Sam could get a word out about Dream being  _ twenty-one _ , Dream gasps in pain and clutches his head. His body convulses again, and Sam feels such a sense of  _ loss _ . After quiet whimpering fills the room for what felt like an eternity, Dream sags. Then he begins to laugh, cruel and sickeningly familiar.

"Hi, Sam," he says, and it twists Sam's insides around uncomfortably. He shoots back, stumbling to pawed feet and shifting into a more solid stance.

"Who  _ are _ you?" Sam asks, hand gripping the hilt of his sword. Dream is powerless in here; he knows that. He  _ knows _ , but it doesn't stop the fight of flight from kicking in.

"The one in control," Dream laughs.

Sam isn't able to get any information out of him after that.

Sam returns to his guard station. His mind is constantly pulled back to the kid, the  _ kid (only fifteen, where had he gone?) _ , he had talked to on the floor of the prison. The small amounts of information Dae had provided him. The people in Dream's body were not  _ Dream _ , but they were. They were all in his head. Why... why hadn't Dream, the normal,  _ original _ Dream, never appeared until now?

He glances at his surveillance system. Dream was still sitting where Sam had left him, fingers playing with the fabric of his poncho with much more confidence than before.

Was... was this a problem that needed to be fixed?  _ Could _ Sam even do anything? Would anyone even believe him?

"Don't worry about  _ Dream _ ," Dream says, abruptly, for no one but himself and Sam. "He gave up being in control a  _ long _ time ago. You won't be seeing him as long as I'm around."

There's... a lot more to Dream than Sam had initially expected. He doesn't think it'll make the hollow look that settles on Dream's face hours later any easier to bear, though. The face of what once was his friend, now apparently not even who he thought he knew.

Sam huffed out a sigh and rubbed his temples. His headache was coming back.

**Author's Note:**

> this was written to be confusing but if you're completely lost just yell at me with questions on here or discord i don't care i love this AU and i'd be happy to ramble about it and answer any question
> 
> This was inspired by two separate tweets, here and here!


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